Abstract

The current research study aims to demonstrate the role that can be played by a sense of meaning in enhancing the academic performance of students. Its overarching objective is to determine whether the life stressors and resources students experience (their meaning in life and Grade 12 marks) can be used to predict the academic performance of first-year students. A random sample of 101 first-year students in the Faculty of Management Sciences studies were selected to participate in this study. A biographical questionnaire, the Purpose in Life Test (PIL) of Crumbaugh and Maholic (1969), and the Life Stressors and Social Resources Inventory-Youth Form (Moos &amp; Moos, 1994), were used to gather data. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to analyse the influence of stressors, resources, purpose in life, and matric performance on the academic performance of first-year students.<p> Results from this study indicate that the measuring instruments provided good, internally consistent measures. A relatively high level of meaning was found amongst participants in the present study. The findings suggest that there were three variables that significantly correlated with academic performance; they are purpose in life, Grade 12 marks, and parents as a resource. It is mainly the variable purpose in life that showed a significant contribution to academic performance. Interestingly, parents as resource is not only significantly linked to academic performance, but it also is significantly linked to purpose in life.</p>